BANGKOK, June 21 — The Commerce Ministry has asked its office in Washington DC to urgently inform the US government officials and private businessmen that there is no human trafficking problem in Thailand, said Permanent Secretary for Commerce Srirat Rastapana.
Ms Srirat said she had ordered the office to cooperate with the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry and other concerned agencies in explaining to the US government, retailers and importers regarding the US downgrading Thailand to “Tier 3” in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, released Friday.
The US has accused the kingdom of allowing human trafficking, slavery and human rights abuses. The US named Thailand on the Tier 2 warning list for four consecutive years and recommended the Thai government to take action.
Ms Srirat said an explanation has to be made urgently in order to prevent negative impacts on Thai trade with foreign countries.
She said the National Food Institute (NFI) in the US has issued a statement that it would continue to trade with Thailand and this was positive news for the kingdom.
The NFI also mentioned in its report that consumers should not assume that human trafficking occurred in the entire shrimp industry in Thailand and the challenge for the Thai government was to solve this problem, she said.
On worry that the US might suspend its generalised system of preferences (GSP) given to Thai products, Ms Srirat said the GSP would not be affected because under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000, it could not be suspended by US administrators.
However, under the Act, the US could suspend aid to Thailand which is unrelated to humanitarian and trade interests, she added.
